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From the numbers you use I assume you're talking about the Windows driver, not the Catalyst Linux driver, right ?
Maybe I'm missing some subtle nuance, but don't all the HW vendors have proprietary Windows drivers ?
Instead of supporting open source driver development ?
BTW can you check your numbers ? You're suggesting we give you more money than we sell the chips for... is that one of those "only our volume allows us to stay in business" deals ?
You know we sell chips, not cards ?

Right I don't know the real numbers.
And its also right that you don't need to send the money to FSF supporting the driver is also fine

Why not just start a kick-starter project to enlarge the open-source investment ?
Just calculate the money you need to improve the open-source driver to beat the catalyst and then but this number into a kick-starter project.

Right I don't know the real numbers.
And its also right that you don't need to send the money to FSF supporting the driver is also fine

Why not just start a kick-starter project to enlarge the open-source investment ?
Just calculate the money you need to improve the open-source driver to beat the catalyst and then but this number into a kick-starter project.

I would support that!

I would personally say that they can already "improve" the open source driver while improving their own without much hassle... it's called implementing and adding tests for the specifications the driver is supposed to implement. I have already found that the ati driver is definitely not thread safe let alone does it implement everything correctly. I know that the driver has major crashing problems on recent catalyst versions when running piglit in threaded mode. It's not as bad with Catalyst 11.11, but catalyst 12.4/12.6 has major problems.

I would personally say that they can already "improve" the open source driver while improving their own without much hassle... it's called implementing and adding tests for the specifications the driver is supposed to implement. I have already found that the ati driver is definitely not thread safe let alone does it implement everything correctly. I know that the driver has major crashing problems on recent catalyst versions when running piglit in threaded mode. It's not as bad with Catalyst 11.11, but catalyst 12.4/12.6 has major problems.

Catalyst customers only pay (1/30) per card to the open-source people but open-source people pay (29/30) per card to the catalyst people.
This means that the subsidization of open source by the catalyst people do not have a relevance because its only (1/30) per card.

Now stop this complete and utter nonsense! By your insane religous logic the 1000/1 windows customers are getting ripped off because they subsidize all development of the silicon to the free-riding odd open source Linux customer. Go and buy an Open-Source graphics card (http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...tem&px=MTEwNTQ) and stop trolling this forum!

Kudos to AMD for even supporting the Open Source drivers and providing (most) documentation for their hardware.

I decided to get an NVIDIA card and ignore AMD completely for now. So far, every graphical issue I had is 100% solved. My system no longer has random hard-locks, Suspend works, tearing is non-existent, there's no input delay... etc. After being so used to using FGLRX for over a year, the PC feels incredibly smooth... there's no way I could ever go back to FGLRX again.

For now, I guess the only option is NVIDIA if you want a trouble-free blob. I know some people claim that FGLRX works fine for them (not disputing that), but the fact is that it is a huge issue for a large number of people. I didn't have the major issues that some users seemed to (always installed and removed just fine), but the little things really bugged me over time.

Will check on AMD's progress on my next upgrade for sure; the price/performance ratio on AMD cards is usually much better. Hopefully in ~2 years the open source Radeon driver will be nearer to my needs.

Both are Windows-friendly companies and it seems the Nvidia detractors are mostly looking at their refusal to engage in any open source projects. But, on the desktop, there doesn't seem to be a real choice. Optimus, SLI and KMS were mentioned as 'COMMON' (?) computer setups but one is only in laptops, the other is if you have TWO video cards in the same computer and just there, these are NOT COMMON setups by any means.

AMD/ATI just don't have Linux on their minds as something to support. They are understaffed, don't invest in the resources and don't have Linux anywhere at the top of their priorities. For Nvidia, Linux might not be a priority or something they want to open source whatsoever but compared to AMD/ATI, their drivers are usually up to date and they can keep up with changes in the kernel. They update or at least 'try' fixing their driver so subsequent driver updates show up now and then which sometimes have improvements. Whereas, the amd/ati drivers with catalyst are constant disappointments that never seem to end. Most hardcore Linux enthusiasts who want open source options usually push for AMD/ATI but even the open source driver can't deliver all the features and many functions that are important are lacking. Does AMD/ATI offer the 'hybrid' video card functionality that Nvidia Optimus doesn't provide, nope. What about power saving (including correct hibernate/suspend functions)? Nope. What about hardware accceleration? Nope. ATI/AMD drivers don't really provide any bonus or 'extras' in terms of working functions and features that Nvidia doesn't so you don't get anything extra choosing AMD/ATI. In theory, you should but I've read nothing here that illustrates you get something extra and/or something that works (better or at all).